Musings from the CEO of an ethical nutritional supplements company committed to education and community connections.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Vitamin D - "Analgesic" for Chronic Pain

Wanna give your health care practitioner some good stuff on vitamin D, that so-called vitamin that is actually a prohormone (vitamin D receptors "affect the function of up to 1000 different genes" and helps "control cell growth and differentiation"), phagocytosis promoter, and analgesic too?

Below is an introduction to the clinical value of using supplemental vitamin D for treating chronic pain from Pain Treatment Topics:

"According to peer-reviewed clinical research, inadequacies of vitamin D have been linked to chronic musculoskeletal pain of various types, muscle weakness or fatigue, fibromyalgia syndrome, rheumatic disorders, osteoarthritis, hyperesthesia, migraine headaches, and other somatic complaints. It also has been implicated in the mood disturbances of chronic fatigue syndrome and seasonal affective disorder.Current best evidence demonstrates that supplemental vitamin D can help to resolve or alleviate chronic pain and fatigue syndromes in many patients who have been unresponsive to other therapies. Vitamin D therapy is easy for patients to self-administer, is well tolerated, and is very economical."

The articles acknowledge that vitamin D does not act palliatively like pharmaceutical interventions, but systemically, and thus takes weeks to months to kick in, as a person's system is nourished with ample vitamin D over time.

Worried about mom's or dad's (or your own) bones, aches and pains, possibilities of falls? I can't stress it enough: make sure you know plenty about our little friend, vitamin D (yes that is a link to our product, for full disclosure)!

3 comments:

Nathan Bales
said...

Hi Cindy! Nathan here. Great article on Vitamin D! Much needed info to get out to the public. With so many people sitting around in offices and "afraid" of the sun, I am seeing a lot of info of Vit D3 shortages causing all kinds of things. Thanks for all you do.

Nathan, the research coming out on vitamin D has just been astounding in the last year. Everyone should be checked for their levels of vitamin D at least annually and target boosting their levels into the 75 and above range! Thanks for your note. Cindy

Nathan, Thanks for the support! Yes, everyone seems to be clinically low in vitamin D. And, thanks for the note about my blog click-through on our home page (www.ourhealthcoop.com). Nice to be connected! Warmly, Cindy

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About Me

I spent years in the high-tech industry, gravitating toward marketing communications and business building. My brother and I bought a small supplement company, Our Health Co-op, in 2002 and continue as a family business. As the CEO, I'm responsible for strategic relationships (consultants, integrative physicians and practitioners, manufacturers, lab testing partner, etc.). I oversee the content that we publish in our newsletter and work to link science (efficacy studies, testing protocols, etc.) to new products.